Agawam, Massachusetts – A Town History

Published in 1980, the one hundred twenty-fifth year of Agawam’s incorporation as a town, this book covers events from the building of the first house in the meadow to the beginning of government under the Home Rule Charter of 1972 and includes the years when Agawam was a precinct of Springfield, then of West Springfield and finally a separate town.

Edith LaFrancis (1905-1999) was a lifelong resident of Agawam. She was born in a home on Main Street that had been in the family since the Civil War. An artist and historian, her work has appeared in New England Galaxy, New England Homestead, Yankee, and several newspapers.

Agawam and Feeding Hills

Agawam and Feeding Hills, the town’s first title in the Images of America series, published in 2000, captures Agawam’s rich past through more than 200 photographs and postcards from the 1880s to the 1950s. The book rediscovers lost Agawam landmarks, such as Randall Field and Bowles Airport, the Feeding Hills train station, the Agawam and Feeding Hills Town Halls, and the Porter Distillery, makers of nationally known Agawam Gin. It includes views by the well-known Howes brothers of Ashfield and of Agawam Center from the beginning of the twentieth century and chronicles a simpler and less hurried chapter of this town’s history.

Agawam and Feeding Hills Revisited

The second Images of America title to chronicle Agawam’s rich history, published in 2005 in celebration of the town’s Sesquicentennial, Agawam and Feeding Hills Revisited pays close attention to the people who lived and worked in Agawam, from schoolchildren, farmers, police officers, business owners, and mill workers to aeronautical engineer Bob Hall, who designed the ill-fated Bulldog and Cicada racers. Agawam was incorporated as a town in 1855, but its history began with the construction of the first house in 1635. The charm of this town has been preserved here with nearly two hundred vintage images and compelling text.